Downstate developer chosen for Hyde Park's Harper Court project

(Crain's) -- A downstate developer plans to knock down the Harper Court shopping center in Hyde Park and build a $200-million mixed-use project in its place.

The City of Chicago and the University of Chicago have picked Danville-based Vermilion Development to redevelop the site of the 40-year-old shopping center at 5211 S. Harper Ave., according to a news release from the city's Department of Community Development (DCD). The university, which owns the retail center, and the city, which owns a parking lot next to it, are partners in the project.

The Daley administration will give the project a tax-increment financing subsidy and other financial incentives, and the University of Chicago will sign a long-term lease for office space that will house several hundred workers, Vermilion said in its own news release.

Vermilion did not say how large the public subsidy would be, or the size of the lease with the university.

The developer and the administration must still hammer out a redevelopment agreement, and construction is not scheduled to start until 2011.

Vermilion was selected from 12 firms that had responded to request for qualifications to develop the site.

"The proposed development will complement and enhance other nearby revitalization efforts, helping to ensure Hyde Park's future economic viability," Acting DCD Commissioner Chris Raguso said in the release.

Once Harper Court is razed, Vermilion plans to redevelop the 128,000-square-foot site in three phases that may include restaurants, entertainment, retail and office space, the release said.

The project would also include a Hotel Indigo, a trendy chain that's part of Buckinghamshire, England-based InterContinental Hotels Group PLC.